Post War Recovery
The party responded to their defeat by accepting many of the Labour government's social reforms whilst also offering a distinctive Conservative edge, as set out in their 1947 poicy statement Industrial Charter.
Having cut the triple-digit Labour majority of 1945 to a mere five seats in 1950,they returned to government in 1951 under Churchill, who remained leader for another four years, during which time the Conservatives showed their acceptance of Labour reforms, though modifying some, such as the denationalisation the steel industry.
In 1955 Churchill retired and was succeeded by Sir Anthony Eden. Eden had an immense personal popularity and lengthy experience as Foreign Secretary, and saw the Conservatives win the general election with an increased majority later that year, but his government then ran into a number of troubles on the domestic front as the economy began to overheat.
In international affairs the government was confronted by the decision of the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser to nationalise the Suez Canal. Eden agreed to a secret collaboration with France and Israel to retake the Canal, but the resulting operation backfired miserably and left the United Kingdom heavily embarrassed abroad and Eden discredited at home. Eden, who was also suffering from ill health at the time, resigned in early 1957.
The succession was contentious, with Rab Butler as the favourite to succeed. However, it was Harold Macmillan who became the next Prime Minister and leader of the party. Macmillan sought to rebuild the government's image both at home and abroad, and presided over strong economic growth and a massive expansion in the consumer-product economy. In 1959 he won the general election of that year on this economic success, summed up in the slogan "You've never had it so good". The Conservatives had now won three general elections in succession and once again they had increased their majority. Such was the scale of their success that there was widespread public and media doubt as to whether the Labour Party was capable of winning a general election ever again.
However, rising unemployment and an economic downturn in the early 1960s eroded support for Macmillan's government. It was further rocked in 1963 by the resignation of the Secretary of State for War John Profumo over the Profumo Affair. In October of that year, Macmillan was misdiagnosed with terminal cancer and resigned.
The party at this time lacked a formal process for electing a new leader and Macmillan's resignation took place in the week of the annual Conservative Party Conference. This event rapidly became an American-style convention as leading ministers sought to establish their credentials. Eventually Macmillan formally recommended to the Queen that she appoint the Earl of Home as Prime Minister. Home was appointed and renounced his peerage, becoming Sir Alec Douglas-Home, but was unable to restore the party's fortunes and narrowly lost the 1964 general election to Harold Wilson's Labour, who ended 13 years of Conservative rule.
Read more about this topic: History Of The British Conservative Party
Famous quotes containing the words post, war and/or recovery:
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)
“Of course in war all madnesses come out in a man, that is the fault of war not of a man or a nation.”
—Frieda Lawrence (1879–1956)
“Walking, and leaping, and praising God.”
—Bible: New Testament Acts, 3:8.
Referring to the miraculous recovery of a lame man, through the intervention of Peter.